A mother and her boyfriend have been arrested on allegations they beat a 4-year-old girl, according to San Antonio police.

Melanie Nicole Garcia, 20, and Matthew Carrillo, 23, are being held in Bexar County Jail on one count each of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. A judge set each person's bail at $200,000.

In March, soon after Garcia and Carrillo started dating, there was an allegation that the girl had been abused and had bruises on her body, Walker said. Drug tests came up negative, officials said.

Garcia had been arrested twice on drug possession charges in April 2009 and in May 2010, according to public records,

“We located the child and the mom, took photographs, interviewed the gentleman involved and we found nothing,” Walker said. “She said although a case worker conducted a thorough investigation, no evidence of abuse was found at the time.

“It's absolutely tragic,” Walker said. “Sometimes we see what they want us to see. We rely on people to tell us what's true, and that doesn't always work out.”